All to a knee, all hear the Word. Her thousand names are Advenai. She bears the word, the sword, the truth. You shall be freed from this prison of mud. Speak with the tongue of the Angels. Rise and change. Arise, arise and shout her name, arise and conquer.
—The Black Tongue Codex

Origins

The terrible story of the Alfen is inexorably entwined with the most significant and horrible event in Yran myth, for the fall of the Alfen began with the fall of a Deva. Cast from the realms of the Angels, Advenai, Messenger of the Gods - now Deciphae the Mother of Serpents, Lady of Lies, the Wingless -touched the face of Yra.

The few extant firsthand accounts of the Footprints of the Devae, faithfully scribed during the First Devaic War, tell of cataclysmic reshaping of the whole of reality that is nearly incomprehensible to mortals. When Volarai first touched the world, trees and flowers took to the sky, fish sprouted wings, the Keng Xiun were changed from Men their current chimeric winged and hawk-headed forms, and Gryphons were instantly created from landlocked riding beasts of burden. The manifestation of any on to the mortal plane warps it into an avataristic reflection of their domains of purview. Similarly, The Fallen One, mightiest and most terrifying of those Devas, must have had a tremendous and awful impact indeed.

While few living (or sane) men can confirm it, most religious and military scholars agree that the Footprint of Deciphae, Our Lady of the Forked Tongue, lies somewhere behind the border of the Alfryche. The Alfen as they are today are invariably the result.

The Regal and Fine-Featured Alfen dwell at the edge of the Known World, behind a wall of unparalleled military might. The domains of the Alfryche and beyond are forbidding and unexplored, the twisted fabrication of the Lady of Lies. Since the outbreak of the Second Devaic War, however, defectors have come forward. The Alfen of the "Fifth Column" are deadly and valuable allies against "The Black Storm".

What precious little information about the culture of this enigmatic race that has emerged from behind the Marches since the Second Devaic War has come from these defectors, or from those rangers of the Cerulean Hawks who journeyed deep behind enemy lines during the Second Devaic War and managed to return coherent.

Characteristics

No one knows for certain what the Alfen were before The Fall. Perhaps they were men. Now, the Alfen are tall, slender, pale humanoids with large and limpid black eyes and long ears that extend well past their crowns. Almost without exception, an Alfen is preternaturally attractive to those of Mannish blood, a fitting reminder of their patroness's aspect. Their speech is sonorous and melodic, a trait which lends itself to mastery of the the peculiar and devastating craft of Cadelock (Cademancy). As far as can be determined, there are no gender roles in Alfen society, however there seems to be a matrilineal monarchy.

The personality of the Alfen on the whole often reflects The Fall of their patroness, as they are calm and diplomatic until angered, and suddenly unreasonably enraged. Many Alfen characters struggle to retain composure and temper in social situations, which is made more difficult by their disdain for "lesser" races or people. Many Alfen, however, regard everyone as a lesser being.

The Alefkoneginryche (Vedan: "Alfryche") must have subjugated or exterminated neighboring cultures and races rapidly after the Fall, enslaving them or committing mass genocides. The Alfryche grew rapidly, swallowing a large portion of Yra spinward (west) of Dourlinglech. The Known World first became aware of the growing threat

A playable Alfen character in Chronicles of Yra is most likely a defector, struggling against the darkness of their twisted heritage, coming forward to undo either their personal wrongs or by personal deeds to balance the evil of Alfen culture. Alfen characters are especially suited to Sorcery, and the Cadelocks of the Alfen could be represented by any arcane class, and a "reflavored" Bard is an ideal choice.

Generating Alfen Characters

The rules for portraying Alfen are one of the more varied in Yra. Eldarin, Tieflings, Drow, and Shadar Kai are acceptable choices to play an Alfen character.